Storms Cause A Mess Out West

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

Updated on: December 13, 1999 / 5:18 AM
/ CBS

Rivers rose Tuesday in Northern California as the latest in a series of soaking, windy storms pounded the West Coast. Heavy snow closed some schools in Oregon and added to the burden of California mountain communities already hard hit by snow.

CBS This Morning Meteorologist Craig Allen reports four feet of snow in Donner's Summit, California, caused whiteout conditions in the area. The prediction is for another two to four feet of snow before the storm leaves.

In Truckee, California, the storm dumped one to two feet more snow on top of what has already been a 100-inch season.

Rising rivers were also a danger. The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream advisory Tuesday for the entire San Francisco Bay region, where more than half a foot of rain fell in some areas during the weekend.

A flood watch was posted for the Russian and Napa rivers, while rain continued as far south as San Diego.

About 200 people in the San Mateo County town of Montara were warned that a creek could rise over its banks, said Tom Maruyama of the Office of Emergency Services. There was no mandatory evacuation, but about a dozen people left their homes, he said.

The wind, rain and snow conditions are causing flight delays in Boise, Reno and Los Angeles.

Power outages during the night affected 55,000 customers of Pacific Gas and Electric from Bakersfield north to the Oregon state line, and scattered outages blacked out 15,000 customers in the San Francisco and San Jose areas, utility officials said.

About eight feet of snow had fallen in parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains since the series of storms began Saturday, and the weather service said an additional one to two feet could fall in blizzard conditions Tuesday.

An avalanche closed the Mount Rose Highway southwest of Reno, Nev., early Tuesday, and snow tires or chains were required on all highways through the Sierra.

On Monday, westbound traffic on Interstate 80 was stopped for about 2 hours at the Nevada-California state line because of spinouts and blizzard conditions. Other roads were closed at times so crews could trigger snow slides as a precaution against larger avalanches.